These are the best performing property markets in Australia: Domain House Price Report

A mass migration from Australia’s major cities has fuelled a price surge in regional property markets as most coastal towns and rural hubs across the country outperformed their respective capitals in median growth over the past quarter.

According to the latest Domain House Price Report, which tracked property prices for the September quarter this year, smaller cities surged ahead of Sydney and Melbourne. Some markets enjoyed a more than 10 per cent median price rise over the past three months alone.

Units in the Central Coast of NSW rose a whopping 10 per cent over the past quarter to $535,000 and an incredible 24.4 per cent over the past 12 months, while prices for units in the Melbourne West region soared by 10.2 per cent over the past three months.

In Hobart, house prices soared to record highs over the quarter, rising 6.9 per cent to $555,754 and pushing annual growth to 15.7 per cent.

Domain senior research analyst Nicola Powell said the rising “tree changer” trend, coupled with sheer affordability, had fuelled the regional markets and smaller cities throughout the coronavirus pandemic, with the lure of lifestyle and better bang for buck particularly driving Sydney and Melbourne buyers away from the bright lights.

“When you compare the capital cities to the rest of state, what we have seen is regional Victoria and NSW have outperformed their respective capitals and it’s the same for QLD and WA. In Tasmania, the regional market has performed the same as Hobart,” Dr Powell said.

“So, it really highlights the strength of our regional markets. Prices and lifestyle are simply pushing people out.”

Richard Faulkner, of Gittoes real estate Gosford, said the price rise on the NSW Central Coast was 100 per cent fuelled by Sydney buyers seeking a slice of affordable paradise – sparking the biggest mass migration he’d seen in almost 15 years.

“People have been told they don’t have to work in the city every day now, so they’re moving here.  We have 100 per cent survived (the pandemic) thanks to this migration,” Mr Faulkner said.

“Houses have been chaotic for the past few months, but it’s been the last few weeks that we’ve seen the unit market increase.

“We are also seeing investors come back,” Mr Faulkner said.

He said the completion of new apartments up and down the coast had also sparked the price jump, bringing the coastal market back to a boom level.

“The peak of the boom in 2017 is the last time we saw this level of activity. While there’s quite a bit of stock coming on, it’s getting snapped up as quickly as it’s listed,” he said.

“Everyone’s sales are increasing and, I daresay, we will see a higher volume of sales [in months to come].”

While the latest Domain report has told a tale of two markets across the country, property prices still managed to rise nationally by 0.9 per cent over the past quarter, with low interest rates and government incentives continuing to boost buyer activity.

In Darwin, median house prices recorded the second-strongest quarterly growth of all the capital cities behind Hobart, and the strongest median unit price increase.

Across Adelaide, property prices are now at record highs, with houses experiencing the largest jump since late-2013, bringing the median price to $564,927.

In Perth, both houses and unit prices rose slightly over the September quarter, with house prices recording the strongest annual gain in six years – bringing the median price to $534,336.

In Sydney, house prices rebound over the September quarter, rising 1.2 per cent to $1,154,406, helping houses to regain just over $13,000 of the almost $22,000 value that was lost over the June quarter.

“Prices (in Sydney) are now about $43,500 below the mid-2017 price peak. Despite house values rising modestly, the pace of quarterly growth was almost four times lower than the same time last year,” Dr Powell said.

“Sydney unit prices (also) continued to decline over the September quarter, down 0.2 per cent to $732,423, although the depth of decline is significantly lower than the previous quarter. Unit values are roughly $56,000 below the mid-2017 peak.”

In Melbourne, median house prices remained at $875,980 over the past three months, with units dipping a slight 0.1 per cent to $536,659.

Despite the scarce price shift, Dr Powell said the Melbourne figures revealed an incredible resilience throughout the strict lockdowns and even a marked turnaround for the city’s house prices, which fell steeply over the June quarter.

In Brisbane, house prices rose just 0.4 per cent to $596,316, while units rose a much-needed 1.7 per cent to $383,585.

Canberra house prices also rose over the past three months, climbing an incredible 10 per cent higher since September last year.